


Lunch

by Untoward



Category: Les Misérables (2012)
Genre: Angst, Character Death, Dad Enjolras, Dad Grantaire, E/R - Freeform, Grantaire and Monsieur Thénardiers are brothers, M/M, Parents, Sad, Suicide Attempt, divorced, enjoltaire - Freeform, flash back, gavroche and eponnie are his nephew/niece, i love you all really and I'm sorry, nice france, set in Nice, sick
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-07
Updated: 2017-02-07
Packaged: 2018-09-22 17:25:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9617792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Untoward/pseuds/Untoward
Summary: Manchester by the sea AU. Enjolras and Grantaire haven't been the same since a horrible event that happens five years prior, they used to be happy but now that's hard to find. Maybe they can make it better over lunch.Set in Nice, France





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kjack89](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kjack89/gifts).



> This has major spoilers for Manchester by the sea, so if you want to watch it don't read this fi. But, if you don't want to watch it, it will still make perfect sense and you can still read it. 
> 
> Decided to dedicate this to kjack89 for being an amazing fucking writer and giving me all the e/r feels.
> 
> This is a very sad plot, just to give you a heads up. THERE IS A SUICDIE ATTEMPT IN THIS FIC!

**SEVEN YEARS AGO.**

"Hello?" Enjolras called from his and Grantaire's bedroom. He had been in bed all day, his cold getting the best of him.

He woke up this morning insisting he doesn't have a cold, that he can go on and take care of his mother but Grantaire had pushed him back into bed leaving him with lots of fluids and tissues and a kiss on the forehead before leaving. He hates to admit it, but he felt a little bit better now than he did this morning. His mother had made her own way out.

"Hi, Apollo!" He shouts back and Enjolras rolls his eyes, his throat too soar to shout at him and tell him to stop so he just picks up a tissue and blows his nose, planning to scold him later.

Grantaire takes off his shoes and hat next to the door, making his way towards the sofa where Abella was sitting, her eyes focused on the TV.

"Hi Abella, Dad's home." He says making his way towards her, Abella looks over at him and smiles widely.

"Hi, Dad." She says and lifts her arms, making grabby hands at him.

"Hi, sweetheart." He bends down and kisses her on the cheek and she wraps her hands around his neck tightly, nuzzling her face into his neck.

"Hug." She mumbles, and Grantaire chuckles, petting her head slightly.

"Jesus Christ, you're breaking my neck." He says and kisses her head again, letting go of her and making his way to Enjolras.

He walks in to find Halette playing on the floor of the bedroom and he smiled, looking back at his husband. His smile only grows when he sees him with a red nose, his blonde curls going in different directions. Enjolras just smiles at him, lifting a tissue and wipping his nose.

"Hi, Apollo." He says and as he takes of his coat, opening up the wardrobe and he hears Enjolras huff but doesn't call him out.

"You have a good time?" Enjolras asks, his voice sounding hoarse. Grantaire puts his coat on a hanger and back in the wardrobe.

"Yeah, really good," Grantaire says with a nod, turning back to face Enjolras "Where's your mother?"

"They just left."

"Oh, _no_." Grantaire says with a little smirk and Enjolras smiles back, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, she really missed you." He said back to him.

"There's always next time," he says and makes way towards the side of the bed, he brings his hand up and runs it through Enjolras' curls and he sighs in pleasure, leaning into Grantaire's touch and closing his eyes. Grantaire bends down and kisses his forehead "Did you rest?"

Enjolras lets out a little laugh "Oh, yeah," he says sarcastically "It's always restful when my mothers here."

"That's too bad." He whispers on his forehead and leaves another kiss before going around the bed and smiled down at his other girl "Hi, Hal."

"Hi, Dad." She said and Grantaire picked her up, bringing her above his head. Enjolras' eyes widen and he's about to says something but then he keeps quite, trusting Grantaire to take care of their babies.

"Put me down." Halette wines, wanting to go back to playing and Grantaire laughs.

"I'm puttin' you down, relax." Grantaire almost set her down but she jerks unexpectedly and he almost loses his grip but he holds on tightly "Hey, hey, hey." He says in shock.

Enjolras heart goes wild in his chest as he sees her almost fall and he screams out "Halette!"

Grantaire gently sets her down on her feet and she sits down on the floor "Honey, don't jerk like that I almost dropped you." He said and smoothed his hand over her head.

"I'm making a hair salon." She says, not thinking about what her Dad just said and he sighs, going to sit on the floor.

"Oh yeah," he says looking over at the toys she set out "It's really good, wanna cut my hair?"

Enjolras smiles at the scene playing in front of him, he loves Grantaire with their kids and being a dad in general, it's his favourite thing he's ever seen.

"It's only for girls, sorry."

"I understand." He says playfully and Halette gets distracted by something in the living room, probably her sister and she runs out their room.

"How you feeling?" He asks gently.

"A little better." Enjolras replies with a little smile.

Grantaire nods "You sound better."

"Did you actually use the fishin' tackle?" Enjolras asks curiously.

"Yeah, we really did," Grantaire says with a smile "Gavroche and Éponnie caught a humongous bluefish, 18 pounds."

"Oh yeah? That's awesome!" Enjolras says with a smile.

"I've never seen anyone that happy in my life." He says and takes off his shirt and throws it to the ground. He makes his way across the room and lies down on top of Enjolras who lets out a little groan at the added weight but settles down, bringing his hand up and curling it into Grantaire's curls.

"It's really nice in here," he says into Enjolras' neck, "You keep it nice, homemaker." He says teasingly and and Enjolras lightly slaps Grantaire's head.

"Fuck off." He says with a smile and Grantaire lifts his head and smiles at him, he moves to place a kiss on Enjolras' lips but he turns away quickly.

"Don't kiss me, I'm sick." He says reluctantly, wanting nothing more than to kiss him and Grantaire seems to read his mind and goes in for the kiss anyway.

Their lips meet and Grantaire is kissing him greedily, not caring about his cold and opening his mouth letting their tongues meet in the briefest encounter before Enjolras is closing his mouth and pushing him away.

"Okay, stop now, you are actually going to get sick." He says but Grantaire just smiles at him and kisses him again and Grantaire doesn't seem to stop and Enjolras kisses him for another minute before huffing and shoving him to the side playfully.

"Okay, get off me." Grantaire lays on his side of the bed looking up at Enjolras with a small smile.

He gets out of bed and makes his way over to the crib, smiling down at the baby boy that was in there. "Hey Philly, how come you're not crying?"

"Leave him alone," Enjolras pleads "He's been quite for half an hour."

Grantaire ignores him, picking up and kissing him on the cheek "Hiya bud, you are very handsome."

"Don't pick him up," Enjolras says, worried he will start to cry again "If he's not making any noise, leave well enough alone."

"'Leave well enough alone'" Grantaire parrots, talking to the baby "that's what me and daddy should have done instead of getting married."

Enjolras rolls his eyes and picks the book he was reading back up, flipping the page "Just shut up."

"But then we wouldn't have gotten you, or you're sisters," he carries on talking to the baby, rocking him back and forth "and I could finally get some sketches done without getting distracted, that's right I could."

"Get over yourself." Enjolras says teasingly and Grantaire huffs back, placing one last kiss one Phillip's cheeks and placing him back in the crib.

"See? I didn't make him cry because I know how to handle him." He claims, crawling back to his side of the bed and looking up at Enjolras.

"How was Jon?" Enjolras asked, his voice turning a little serious.

"He's alright," Grantaire says with a sigh, he's could be better, but the way he's been handling his heart condition was good so he nods his head "He's doing alright."

Enjolras runs his fingers through Grantaire hair soothingly "And you didn't run out of beer?" He asks cautiously "You got through the day okay?"

"Oh yeah," Grantaire says "we were very temperate."

"I don't know why you guys bother getting on that freaking boat." Enjolras says and shuts his book, putting it on the bed side.

"Because we love the sea," he says and sucks his lip, placing his hand on Enjolras' stomach and rubbing it slightly "I only had eight beers over a seven hour period, that like, one point four two something per hour."

"Its almost like a normal person staying sober." He says sarcastically but Grantaire ignore him and gets up, starting to take his trousers off.

"I told you I was cutting down." He takes his trousers off fully and smiles down at Enjolras knowingly, crawling back on top of him and kissing him along the jaw.

"What do you think you're going to do now?" Enjolras asks with a raised eyebrow and Grantaire rolls his eyes, shifting back slightly to look at Enjolras.

"I guess I'll go in for a shower," Grantaire says defeated but makes no move to stop out of bed, instead he zones out for a little while and smiles "Enjolras, I swear to God, you should have seen the look on Ép and Gavroche's faces when they caught the fish. It was like taking Abella on the merry go round, it was pure happiness."

Enjolras smiles at him and cups his cheeks, and Grantaire goes in for a kiss, Enjolras wants to protest but he can't find the energy and just enjoys the moment between them. He can hear Abella and Halette playing in the living room, he can also hear Philip cooing in the crib and Enjolras smiles into Grantaires mouth, feeling very happy.

**PRESENT DAY**

Grantaire leaves the shop, bringing his hands to his mouth and blowing into them to keep himself warm. Gavroche was at his girlfriends house... studying and Éponnie was over at her friends and he had some time to kill before he goes and picks them up.

He runs his fingers through his brunette curls trying to tame them and then stuffs them straight into his coat pocket, trying to keep the heat in. Grantaire quickly makes his way towards his car, wanting to sit in a heated place and and have some time to collect his thoughts.

It's been a long couple of weeks and between funeral arrangements and taking care of Gavroche and Éponnie, making sure they're okay he hasn't had time to sit and think. He thinks he's been doing okay taking care of them, they've only had one break down since the news hit so he will take that as a good thing.

But he slows down as he's walking to his car, his eyes widening when he sees him, his chest feeling tight. He was even more beautiful then he remembers, his blonde curls loose and his bright blue eyes are also fixed on his, ignoring his friend that is talking beside him.

Enjolras' eyes are also on Grantaire, a pit of guilt forming in Enjolras' stomach as he looks back at Grantaire. His hands tighten on the handle of the pram, breathing in the cold air to get his heartbeat to slow down before turning back to him and calling his name.

"Grantaire!" He shouts before he can stop himself and starts to push the pram in his direction, Grantaire just stands there, a blank expression on his face and Enjolras stops in front of him "... Hi."

"Hi." Grantaire says as best as he can, his hands going further into his pocket.

"Um," Enjolras bits his lip before quickly turning to Combeferre "Combeferre this is Grantire, Grantaire this is Combeferre."

"Hello." Combeferre says and Grantaire doesn't answer, just gives him a little nod.

"And this is Raison," Enjolras says softly, reaching out and pulling the blanket down away from the babies face "You can't really see him that well." Enjolras says with a little smile, looking down at his baby with pride.

Grantaire looks at Enjolras with a little smile, happy to finally see him in some sort of peace, happy to see him with children again. He tears his eyes away from Enjolras and down at the baby with a little smile "Hi Raison, you are very handsome."

Enjolras just looks at him with a sad smile and Grantaire looks up at him too, remembering what there lives used to be like, happy and intimate. That was years ago, and Grantaire feels the hole in his heart increase as he looks at Enjolras.

"Enjolras," Combeferre interrupts, feeling a little awkward standing there "Do you want me to get the car and pick you up?"

"Oh, sure." Enjolras says reluctantly and Grantaire coughs, nodding his head to the other direction.

"That okay, I gotta -"

"Wait," Enjolras says quickly "I - I'd -" he breaths in deeply, trying to find it in himself to continue "Could we talk for a second?"

Grantaire bites his lip nervously but nods nonetheless "Sure."

"I'll just, pull the car around," Combeferre tells Enjolras who nods at him "It was nice to meet you." He says to Grantaire and walks away, leaving the two of them alone, and they just stand there for a few moments, not really sure what to say.

"I don't have anything big to say." Enjolras says steadily, gripping onto the pram a little bit harder.

"That's okay." Grantaire says reassuringly, knowing Enjolras always had a point to everything he says and does.

"I just, I know you've been around..." He trails off, looking down at his shoes before looking back up at Grantaire.

"Yeah I've just been getting Éponnie and Gavroche settled in." He says quickly, not wanting Enjolras to feel uncomfortable with him being around town.

Enjolras just nods quickly, pulling a curl to the side of his face "They seem like they're doing pretty well, with all things considered..." He trails off, not wanting to say anything else.

"I think they are, yeah."

"I guess you probably know I kept in touch with Jon - "

" - I knew that -"

" - so it's been kind of weird not seeing Ép and Gavroche since he passed away - "

" - well, you could see them, I have no -"

"Could we ever have lunch?" Enjolras interrupts quickly, tears are beginning to burn the back of his eyes as he watches Grantaire stare at him in wonderment, his eyebrows furrowed.

"You mean us?" Grantaire says in confusion "You and me?"

Enjolras nods his head quickly "Yeah, I uh," he breaths in, trying to keep the tears at bay but it doesn't seem to work and he feeling them forming in his eyes, making his vision go a little blurry "I said a lot of terrible things to you," his voice goes hoarse and tears trickle down his cheek "But, I know you never, maybe you don't want to talk to me -" Enjolras took a shaky breath in, trying to level himself before continuing but Grantaire interrupted.

"It's not that." Grantaire said genuinely, shaking his head. Is not that he didn't want to speak to Enjolras anymore, it's that he felt like he didn't have a right to.

Grantaire wanted nothing more then to reach out and pull him into a hug, to stroke his hair and tell him it's okay but he didn't, he just stood there and watched the love of his life cry. Because he wasn't his to hold and comfort anymore, he was with someone else now.

"Let me finish," Enjolras says, wiping away the tears that made its way down his chin "It just that, my heart was broken, it's still broken, and I know yours is too" he said and closed his eyes tightly, not wanting to cry anymore "But I don't have to carry -" he shakes his head erratically, he didn't know what he was saying anymore "I said things that I should - I should fucking burn in hell for saying, it was just -"

Grantaire steps forward, forgetting for a second about anything rational and just wanting to comfort him. He cups one of Enjolras cheeks with his hand and wipes away the tears on his cheeks "No, no," Grantaire says softly and shakes his head.

Enjolras lets out a sigh, putting his hands on Grantaire arm and opening his eyes "I'm just sorry," he says genuinely "I love you." He says in a whisper and Grantaire looks back at him in shock, dropping his hand from his cheek but he still stands close to him. "And maybe I shouldn't say that," he says in a rush "I'm just really sorry."

"No, you can say it," Grantaire sighs "I just, I," he looks back to his car and then back at Enjolras "I have to go."

"We can't have lunch?" Enjolras asks and reaches to touch Grantaire arm.

"I don't think so." Grantaire says softly, not meaning it in a hurtful way, he just doesn't think he will be able to keep himself composed, he's barely doing a good job now.

"You can't just die!" Enjolras says quickly, his voice coming out strained at the thought of Grantaire losing his life.

"I'm not!" Grantaire says defensively, not that he hasn't thought about it, but he has bigger things to worry about at the moment "I'm happy for you," he says looking at Raison with so much sincerity, because Enjolras deserves to be happy after all the shit they went through "and I want... I would want to talk to you but I can't..."

"R, I see you walking around here," he says stepping up to him and wrapping his arms around Grantaire torso tightly, moving to nuzzle into his chest "and I just want to tell you, I don't want anything to happen because... I don't want to torture you."

"You're not," Grantaire says shakily, running his hands over Enjolras curls "thank you for saying everything but I can't, you don't understand..."

"Of course I do!" Enjolras steps away, angrily.

"I gotta go." He says and moves away.

"Okay," Enjolras nods "I'm sorry."

"There's nothing I can s-" he breaths and deeply and gives Enjolras one final look "I gotta go."

And with that he's gone, leaving Enjolras gripping the pram tightly with hot tears down his face.

**FIVE YEARS AGO**

**2:00 AM**

"Would you keep it down you morons?" Enjolras says, his arms crossed over his chest and his face growing in frustration "My kids are sleeping."

"I'm sorry, Apollo," Grantaire says happily and Enjolras just shakes his head at him "I told you guys to keep it down." He said looking at his friends that were around the room.

"Sorry Enjolras, we'll keep it down." One of them says but Enjolras ignores them and looks over at Grantaire.

"Grantaire, you want to get these idiots out of my house please?" He says it like a command even though it's a question and walks away.

"He can't talk to us like that." Grantaire says in disbelief, even though he knows full well his husband can.

"Yeah, we're not idiots." One of the guys says and then everyone starts laughing again. Enjolras suddenly appears in the doorway again, looking at everyone in anger.

"Hey!" He says loudly and looks around "I'm not messing around! It's 2 o'clock in the damn morning! Get these idiots out of here!"

**2:15 AM**

Grantaire comes in from saying goodbye to everyone, there are still cars leaving their driveway and some of the guys are still shouting.

He sees Enjolras standing their with a look of disapproval, his hands crossed over his chest. Grantaire walks over to him and leans in to kiss his cheek but Enjolras moves his head quickly, not wanting a kiss.

Grantaire sighs "I'll clean up in the morning, baby." He says assuringly and Enjolras huffs.

"Yeah, right." Grantaire leans in and this time Enjolras lets him kiss his cheek before turning away and making his way towards their shared bedroom.

**2:30 AM**

Grantaire makes his way down the street with a hat, gloves and multiple layers of clothing to keep the cold at bay. He walks into the mini mart and starts to collect things for breakfast later on in the day.

**2:40 AM**

He buys milk and eggs, smiles at the man behind the counter and starts to make his way back to the house.

**3:00 AM**

Grantaire nears his street and look up at the sky to see a orange hue and smoke coming from the direction of his house, his face falls and he feels his heart plummet. He starts to run in the direction of his house.

**3:05 AM**

He comes to a stop and his eyes widen at the sight, his house is up in flames and all he can do is stand there in shock. He sees the firefighters try to tame the fire but there is so much of it. He can see the sirens and the police gathered round, two to them are trying to hold Enjolras down who is screaming bloody murder, he looks like he's ready to run into the flaming house and is shouting in hysteria.

"Let me go! Get your hands off me," he says quickly, struggling in their grip "somebody get in there, get them out!" He shouts loudly and Grantaire's eyes go wide when he realises his kids are still in there.

**4:00 AM**

Grantaire tries to comfort Enjolras as he's being wheeled into the ambulance but he's not looking at him at all. His eyes are screwed shut and he keeps on dodging Grantaire's hands, not wanting anything to do with him. He just wants to be left alone.  
  
Grantaire moves to stand next to Jon, and two policemen approach him. They stars questioning him and he answers as best as he can, but he's a little distracted. His eyes are fixed on the burnt down house, as the firefighters move around and lift two bodies from the fire. Grantaire turns his head onto Jon's shoulders and his shoulders starts to shake. Jon sighs and wraps his arms around his brother.

**7:00 AM**

"...Anyway, our bedroom’s in the downstairs. The girls sleep upstairs." He's voice threatens to crack at the thought of his two beautiful girls.

"So Enjolras makes everybody leave around two o’clock, and he went back to bed. So everybody leaves, and I go inside. And it’s really cold inside, so I go check on the girls and it’s fuckin’ freezing up there." He can't help but think it was better to leave it be cold.

"We sleep downstairs. The girls sleep in the upstairs. But Enjolras doesn’t like the central heat because it dries out his sinuses, and he gets these headaches. So I went downstairs and built a fire in the fireplace, and I sit down to watch TV, except I remember there's no more milk for tomorrow morning." He also can't help but think that milk could have fucking waited. They didn't need milk.

"And I’m still jumpin’ like a jackrabbit. So I put a couple big logs on the fire so the house would warm up when I was gone, and I went to the mini- mart...It’s about a fifteen minute walk both ways. But I didn’t wanna drive cause I was really wasted." Enjolras had told him to stop drinking but he insisted it was fine.

"And I’m halfway there, and I remember I didn’t put the screen on the fireplace. But I figure it’s probably okay. But I kept going to the store and that's it, one of the logs must have rolled out when I was gone. The girls were all upstairs... And that’s it. The firefighters got Enjolras out. He was passed out downstairs. And then they said the furnace blew, and they couldn’t go inside again. And that’s all I remember."

"Okay, Grantaire," one of the detectives says slowly "that's all for now, we'll call you if anything else comes up."

"Assuming the forensics bear you out, which I'm guessing they will." The fire marshal says and Grantaire look at them with shock.

"What do you mean?" He says angrily, feeling like he should be punished "That's it?"

"Look, Grantaire," the fire marshal says seriously "You made a horrible mistake, like a million other people did last night, but we're not going to crucify you. It's not a crime to leave the screen off the fire place."

"... So what?" He asks with a raised eyebrow "I can go?"

"Unless something comes up that we don't know about, yeah."

"You got a ride back home? Is Jon or your dad here?"

Grantaire just nods solemnly and gets up, stalking his way towards the exit. He can't help but feel like he got away with a horrendous crime and when he sees one of the officers walk past him with their gun in the holster he takes his chance and grabs it. He puts it towards his temple and pulls the trigger as quickly as he can but the safety latch is on, so he lowers the gun to take the latch off.

Everyone sees this happen and they run towards Grantaire, Jon screaming 'Don't shoot!' and the police quickly crowd around Grantaire, taking the gun from his hand and pushing him towards the floor. Trying desperately to get him to stop thrashing. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you all so much for reading! Make sure to give me your thoughts on the one shot, I would appreciate nothing more. Love you all.


End file.
